2007-05-01

To be or not to be

Before I had my son, I would ride my bike to and from work, almost every day. I rode Vätternrundan, a bike race of 300 km, an prior to that, I rode about 20 km a week to train for the event in question. Would I then had called myself a cyclist? N O F A T C H A N C E. My concept of a cyclist includes a person, riding a real racer, with all the correct equipment and riding at a considerable speed. Not in the city. On the road. I was merely out cycling, or riding a bike. But I was no cyclist, and will never become. The question came up during lunch yesterday. People not glued to Tour de France or Giro d'Italia have no concept of the difference between a cyclist and someone riding a bike. But, of course, it is not just in cycling you differ between a person using the tools and a person who have reached another level. Is every person equiped with a hammer a carpenter? Is every person who writes code a developer? You might call it elitistic, but there you have it. When you have a role, it takes more than grabbing the tools to have the role. You might play it, but you won't be it. Or what do you think?